The next stop will be…

I upgraded iTunes on my Macbook this morning and decided to enable the new Genius feature. I was mixed about the decision because for the feature to work, it must send information from my iTunes library and therefore my listening habits to Apple. They swear it’s done anonymously but I’m always a little skeptical of that statement.

What did I trade for this potential, but probably not, invasion of my privacy? The Genius feature creates a playlist based off any song chosen from your library as well as makes recommendations from the iTunes store. I refuse to purchase anything from their store until they do away with DRM and there are better avenues for downloading music anyway. I was more curious about what songs from my library the Genius feature would pair with other tracks. It should be mentioned that the feature uses input from all users to help it decide what goes with what.

Based on the list below, I have to say it did pretty well. I started off with my favorite song of the moment, the excellent pop gorgeousness of “That’s Not My Name” by The Ting Tings and then let the Genius go to work. In no time at all it created the playlist you see. It turned out pretty good, in my humble opinion. The only song I skipped while listening to it was the track from Vampire Weekend. I find them kinda boring and horribly overrated. Not that being overrated has stopped me from listening to other bands, see Arctic Monkeys and Gnarls Barkley. Anyhoo, all this to say that I’m digging the Genius feature and hopefully it will not only help me discover new music but also some unheard gems from my own collection.

Song -> Artist
“That’s Not My Name” -> The Ting Tings
“Golden Skans” -> Klaxons
“Electric Feel” -> Mgmt
“Oxford Comma” -> Vampire Weekend
“Run (I’m a Natural Disaster)” -> Gnarls Barkley
“Shoot The Runner” -> Kasabian
“You Know My Name” -> Chris Cornell
“Valerie” -> Amy Winehouse
“Tranquilize (Feat. Lou Reed)” ->The Killers
“Ooh La La (Benny Benassi Remix Ext…)” -> Goldfrapp
“Tick Tick Boom” -> The Hives
“An Honest Mistake” -> The Bravery
“The Heinrich Maneuver” -> Interpol
“Fake Tales of San Francisco” -> Arctic Monkeys
“Great DJ” -> The Ting Tings
“It’s Not Over Yet” -> Klaxons
“L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)” -> Kasabian
“Time to Pretend” -> Mgmt
“Superstar Tradesman” -> The View
“Moving To New York” -> The Wombats
“Ready For The Floor” ->Hot Chip
“Everything Is Average Nowadays” -> Kaiser Chiefs
“I Will Possess Your Heart” -> Death Cab For Cutie
“Shadowplay” -> The Killers
“Keep Your Head” -> The Ting Tings

Yesterday’s post reminded me of a joke that my Dad’s been telling for as long as I can remember. It goes like this:

Last night I had a dream that I swallowed a giant marshmallow. I woke up this morning and my pillow was gone.

I rarely remember my dreams and I have a theory as to why that is. I suspect it’s because I don’t use an alarm clock so my natural sleep patterns aren’t interrupted.

While that might explain my lack of dream memory, it doesn’t answer the question of why I wake up with music in my head. I guess that’s a problem for another day.

This scene from The Hudsucker Proxy by Joel and Ethan Coen does it for me. Roger Deakins, their director of photography, should have received an Academy Award for the sheer beauty and exuberance of it. I love how the young boy is tapping his foot in time to the hoop and the slo-mo section just blows my mind. The whole movie is brilliant but this scene is one of my all time favorite pieces of film.

My desire to read comes in waves. I’ll read a bunch of stuff then I kinda drop off and not read so much. I’m in a bit of a pickle though cause I’m at the crest of a reading wave and I got nothing on the bookshelves that interests me. I like fiction and non-fiction so if you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them.

While I’m on the topic of media, here’s a couple of music tracks that are rocking the h*ll out of my iPod.

The Presets - My People
Modern goth new-wave along the lines of The Faint.

Eels - Get Ur Freak On
Indie rock take on Missy Elliott’s hit

Ps. For a variety of reasons, I haven’t been on the bike much lately and I think that has contributed to the dearth of posts. Biking really gets the creative juices flowing and without it, me no so creative.

I got a shock this morning from the old mainframe in the attic. I had to check out a website at work that I haven’t visited in over a year and somehow my brain managed to recall both the username and password. How the h*ll did that happen?

It wouldn’t have been a big deal except it’s not even my username/password. It’s one we share at work so there’s nothing in the login related to me. I can’t remember people’s name five minutes after I meet them but apparently usernames and passwords are not a problem. Maybe I should start asking people for that information when I meet them instead of their name.

One of the treats from my recent trip to Chicago was a visit to the Leaning Tower of… Wait for it… Niles, Illinois! It’s true. There’s a half-scale replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in a small city just outside Chicago. But the story gets better.

Behold The Leaning Tower of Niles in its smaller but just as slanty glory.

Oh the half-scale majesty!

Even the Telefono booth gets in on the slanty fun. But the best part is yet to come.

Yup, it’s the Leaning Tower YMCA. It was built well after the tower replica but come on, how can you not love the fact that there’s a Leaning Tower YMCA?

Fortunately for its residents, it’s not slanty.